John Appleton, Nec Spec Nec Metu

John Appleton has been working as a portrait painter, designer and muralist for the last nine years. He currently resides in London where he works in the Old Masters department at Christie’s auction house. Nec Spec Nec Metu is Latin for ‘No Hope No Fear’ and a is reference to the motto of the famously rebellious 17th century Italian painter Caravaggio. The direct influence of Old Master paintings is evident in the themes and execution of these works. Collectively, they form a kind of personal mythology, with the dealings of London life for a context.

Drawing on traditions of portraiture, still life and ornament, Appleton creates his own brand of surrealism. His works play with the relationship between representation and power: animals are canonized and celebrated in the style of classical portraiture; they regard us with frank expressions reminiscent of leaders and the privileged classes. Other works see the same animals collected as museum specimens, immobilised as they morph into the vessels meant to contain them. Appleton subverts realism through decorative distortions, highlighting the theatricality and artifice of the painted image. He also gives us cause to reflect upon cultural politics and hierarchies of genre in art and crafts.

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